


Mystery at Chef Kawasaki's

by paintedsoldier



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedsoldier/pseuds/paintedsoldier
Summary: A Waddle Doo mysteriously dies at Chef Kawasaki's restaurant. Kirby and friends team up to help figure out what really happened and save Chef Kawasaki's career.
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (The pronouns I'm using are based on the English localization, since that's what's generally recognized among Anglophone audiences and I don't want things to be too confusing. So Kirby uses he/him pronouns, while BWD uses they/them. If I mess up on this somewhere just let me know)

Kirby and Bandee were together in Kirby's house. They were sitting next to each other before the computer, as Kirby browsed online. He went rapidly through numerous pages, fast enough that Bandee didn't quite understand how he had even comprehended what it said—then again, he might just have been pressing the buttons for fun.

"Hey, Kirbs," they suggested, "maybe you should, uh, slow down..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well— wait, go back!"

"Why?"

"I thought I saw something."

"Kirby paged to the previous page. It was a news story, bearing a large picture of Chef Kawasaki's restaurant. **Young Waddle Doo Found Dead at Dream Land Restaurant** , the headline read.

"What does it say?!" Bandee demanded.

"Someone died at Chef Kawasaki's restaurant!"

"I mean the _rest of the story_."

"I don't know."

"Let me see—"

Bandee moved Kirby and took his place. They read the article.

_Thursday evening around 6pm a Waddle Doo collapsed during a meal at Kawasaki's Restaurant. They were taken to the infirmary, where they were pronounced dead on arrival. The cause of death remains unknown, but it is highly suspected to be connected to the food they had been eating. No persons of interest have been named, but Chef Kawasaki is currently under scrutiny._

"Kirby! Kawasaki's in trouble!"

"Maybe the Waddle Doo died because the food was too good! You can't blame Chef Kawasaki for that!"

"You can't die from joy, Kirby." They sighed. "Let's go check up on him."

\---

On a normal Friday, Chef Kawasaki would be swamped, but when Kirby and Bandee arrived there were no customers.

"Hi Chef Kawasaki!" Kirby called.

"Ah, Kirby, Bandee, welcome! What'll you have tonight?"

"Uh, we're not really here to—"

"I'll have a medium-rare tenderloin, spicy ramen, four pieces of pizza, some spaghetti, a bunch of—"

Bandee covered Kirby's mount forcibly. "We wanted to check in after we read about what happened."

"Oh, well, it's quite unfortunate really—"

a loud noise came from the front of the store; the door burst open.

"Chef Kawasaki! I need two prime steaks now!"

It was King Dedede. His energy stopped abruptly and he looked around at the empty restaurant. "Where is everyone? Why are you two here?" He said pointing to Kirby and Bandee. "Why aren't you at Castle Dedede?" he demanded of Bandee.

"I—I'm sorry Your Highness—"

"Where is everyone Chef Kawasaki?"

"Well, you see..."

"A Waddle Doo died eating here yesterday!" Kirby shouted.

"Kirby! Be polite!"

"Sorry Bandee." Kirby looked slightly ashamed.

"Huh. I didn't know they could eat. I just assumed they did photosynthesis or something. Where are their mouths?" He turned to Bandee. "Waddle Dee, why didn't you tell me about this? This is important for the king to know!"

"I—I haven't even seen you—"

Chef Kawasaki sighed, and the king stopped menacing Bandee. "Since the story broke nobody's been coming here. I didn't do anything, but everyone seems to think they died from our food."

" _We_ know you didn't do anything," Bandee assured Chef Kawasaki.

"Thanks, Bandee. But even if _we_ know I didn't do anything, the customers still think it was our food."

Around this time a shady-looking figure walked along the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. It went into a shop across the street and emerged as mysterious as before, wrapped up in a cape so as to resemble a sentient sushi roll. It clearly hoped not to be noticed, but Kirby pointed out,

"Chef Kawasaki! A customer!"

But they made no indication they meant to go to the restaurant. However, King Dedede knew and said decisively, "That's not a customer, it's Meta Knight."

"Why can't he be a customer?" Kirby asked. No one answered, but he ran out the door and started shouting at the figure.

"Meta Knight!"

The figure turned around slightly.

"Meta Knight!"

 _Shit_ , Meta Knight thought. He had just bought an unhealthy amount of chocolate bars which he hid under his cape like a high school drug dealer with an army jacket, and was on his way to climb a tree and eat them sitting at the top. But of course he'd forgotten to consider that his Dream Land friends—no, cargo, he tried to remind himself—would be there. He sighed, loosened his grip on the cape, and turned around.

"Meta Knight!" Kirby said as he ran at full speed ready to give a big hug.

"Kirby! Stop! You're going to—"

Kirby gave Meta Knight a huge hug. After a second he said, "Why does it feel like you have candy bars under there?"

 _Fuck_ , he thought. "You're always thinking about food," he said. "I—reinforced the inside lining."

"Chef Kawasaki needs help," Kirby continued, oblivious to whatever he'd just said.

"With what?"

"You didn't hear?"

"Obviously not."

"A Waddle Doo died while eating at his restaurant last night, and everyone thinks it was his fault."  
"Ah. I thought the place looked a bit dour."

"Sour?"

"Never mind."

The two started walking back towards the restaurant. _Fuck_ , Meta Knight thought, _these are going to melt._ He decided he'd have to eat them all in the bathroom at Kawasaki's—maybe not _all_ , but he didn't want to waste his money.

They arrived shortly. Everyone was glad to see him.

"Welcome, Meta Knight," Kawasaki said politely. "I assume you're not here to eat?"

"No, I'm here because Kirby said you needed help."

"Oh, I don't really need help. There's isn't much you can even do, really."

Meta Knight looked disapprovingly at Kirby.

"No, we can help!" Kirby said. "Meta Knight, what should we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"To prove Chef Kawasaki didn't do anything!"

"Kirby," he said, "there's not really much we can do. There are people who do this for a living and know far more about it than any of us do."

Here Bandee chimed in. "We don't need to clear him in the eyes of the law," they said. "The problem's that people don't want to eat here anymore because they think either Kawasaki is a murderer or his food has something wrong with it."

Meta Knight nodded. "You do have a point," he admitted. "Let me, uh, go to the bathroom and think about it."

"Go right ahead," Chef Kawasaki said awkwardly, gesturing towards the restroom.

King Dedede looked askance while Meta Knight walked away. Once he'd entered the door, the king said, "He's definitely doing something cute and uncool in there."

\---

When Meta Knight was finished in the bathroom, the five of them sat down at a table to discuss the situation—there were no customers, after all.

"There are two things that came to mind just now," Meta Knight said. "assuming that the Waddle Doo died because of the food—and from what I gather, the cause of death hasn't been determined."

Chef Kawasaki confirmed this.

"Firstly—Chef Kawasaki, have you spoken to your men about the situation?"

"My 'men'?"

"Yes. Your employees. Did you ask them if they have any suspicions of what could have happened?"

"Well, yes. We held a staff meeting earlier today and when I asked if anyone had some clue, they all said they had no idea."

"I see."

"What was the second thing?" Bandee asked.

"Oh, right. Do you have a CCTV system, Chef Kawasaki?"

"I love TV!" Kirby interjected.

"No Kirby, CCTV is a security camera," Bandee explained.

"Now that you mention it, we do," Chef Kawasaki realized. "We can take a look now if you'd like."

"Aren't we gonna eat first?" King Dedede asked. "I'm starving."

"Um, your highness, I don't think that was—"

"Get me dinner Waddle Dee!"

"I have some leftovers from my lunch, " Chef Kawasaki offered.

"I don't know if I trust your leftovers now..."

Meta Knight slapped the king.

"Ow!"

"Have some respect, Dedede."

"Sorry," he muttered. Bandee overheard and thought it strange—the king never apologized.

"So you don't want?"

"I'll have them!" Kirby exclaimed.

"No, don't—"

Kirby inhaled whole the Tupperware Chef Kawasaki had been holding.

"Tastes like plastic!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chef Kawasaki guided the four into the restaurant's small office. He took a seat at his desk and loaded up the CCTV DVR viewer. There were 10 cameras. One recorded from above the front door; each corner of the main dining area had one, and one stood on each entrance to the kitchen, which there were two of on either side of the restaurants back wall. Within the kitchen were three cameras, with one on the left wall, one on the right wall, and one on the back wall.

"That's a lot of cameras," Kirby remarked.

"This is a good idea! Why don't we have these at the castle? Waddle Dee, remind me to buy a ton of cameras!"

"Yes sire."

"Okay," Chef Kawasaki said, "I guess I'll go back to around 4pm yesterday."

He clicked around and brought up the playback view at 2x speed. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, so he sped it up a bit more.

"Everyone's going so fast!" Kirby said.

"The video is sped up, Kirby," Meta Knight said, a bit impatiently. "Nothing's happening though." But as soon as he said this, he quickly added, "Wait!"

"What?" Kawasaki asked.

"You didn't see that? Go back a bit and slow it down."

"Alright."

He played the video back at normal speed. Things seemed to be normal, until around 5:45. A pink shape showed up near one of the kitchen doors and walked through. It entered the kitchen and added something into an unattended pan on one of the stoves. It then quickly left, and five to ten minutes later it was sent out to a table—a few minutes before the Waddle Doo fell ill.

"That looks kinda like you," Bandee said to Kirby in a somewhat confused tone.

"What? No way! Look at it, it's not nearly as round and cute!"

"I knew you had a dark side!" the king shouted. "Pink demon!"

"Don't call me that!" Kirby was angry now and seemed ready to inhale the king.

"Stop, Kirby!" Meta Knight began to reach for his sword, which was enough to make Kirby pause and collect himself. "See if you can see the thing's face," he said in a calmer voice.

"Will do."

Chef Kawasaki went to the kitchen cameras around the time the figure entered the kitchen. He paused it in a spot where the being's front could be seen.

"Look!" Kirby exclaimed. "That's not me! The eyes are all weird and far apart!"

Meta Knight leaned in closer to the monitor to get a better look. "He has a point," he said. "This thing's got far apart beady eyes. And it actually has shoulders."

"Hey! You don't have them either!"

"Still," he continued, "it looks a _lot_ like Kirby. If anyone sees this..."

"It's Kirby!" The king screamed. "He finally proved he's the _real_ bad guy!"

King Dedede still held a bit of a grudge over his reputation as a villain. The only time he'd done something bad, he felt, was the time he stole everyone's food. And even then, they could just grow more crops, right?

For a moment they all reflected. Each of them had fought Kirby at one point. And quite often Kirby was the one in the wrong to begin with: it was he who allowed Nightmare to steal the Star Rod, it was he who released Dark Nebula from the treasure chest Meta Knight tried to protect just because he thought it had cake in it. Although Meta Knight had long abandoned his revolutionary ideas, it had been Kirby who thwarted his coup. To be sure, Kirby had been the one to fix all the problems he'd caused, and he'd rescued the king and Meta Knight from possession and kidnapping countless times, but even Bandee felt Kirby got let off the hook far too much.

_Could he?_ Chef Kawasaki wondered. _He does clear out when you get in his way on a mission..._

_It can't be him_ , Bandee thought. _He only fought for what he thought was right. He may be selfish, but what would he even gain from doing this?_

 _As much as I want to see him get in trouble_ , thought the king, _it doesn't really make sense. He's only as selfish and evil as I am, and I wouldn't poison a Waddle Doo for no reason._

 _Would he really?_ Meta Knight pondered. _To do such a thing to prove his worth. No—how would it prove anything?_ He thought of the time he'd unsealed Galacta Knight. _But I sought to strengthen myself. I harmed no one in the process—I needed to do it for my men. If he killed someone just to prove his heroism, he would really be no hero at all, but a coward._ He looked at Kirby. He had a hard time believing that Kirby could be such a deviant coward. Then again, a foreigner might have as much difficulty believing this was the strongest warrior in his land. Although he wouldn't admit it, Meta Knight saw much of himself in the pink demon—if Kirby could do it, _he_ could do it too.

They all processed this in a matter of a minute or so. All the while, Kirby screamed, "Why don't you believe me? I wouldn't hurt an innocent person for no reason! What makes you think I would? Not for all the strawberry shortcake in the world!"

They all looked at him thoughtfully, silently.

Desperate-faced, he shouted, "Please believe me!"

On the other side of the Mirror a small yellow man listened to the five of them. _I need to thank them_ , he reminded himself. Things were all going as planned.


	3. Chapter 3

Bandee, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Chef Kawasaki didn't know what to do. Upon Meta Knight's suggestion, the four of them went outside the office and locked Kirby in. As before, they gathered at a table, this time to discuss how to proceed.

"Much as I want to see him lose for once, I don't think that was him. It just doesn't seem like it could be," King Dedede said.

Chef Kawasaki nodded in agreement. "Of course, he attacks people who get in his way, but I've never known him to hurt someone for no reason."

"There is...," Meta Knight started to say, but he stopped himself quickly. Still, Bandee heard.

"There's what?" they asked.

"The only reason I could think he would do such a thing is to prove his heroism. Create a problem for him to solve." He paused for a second. "But it doesn't seem like something he'd do. He's never shown pride in that way before." He stopped again for a moment. "And I think he had a point about the eyes," he continued.

"Funny for you to talk about peoples' faces," the king muttered, although Meta Knight seemed to not have heard, or to have pretended not to hear.

"I think we can clear him for now," Meta Knight said further.

They all agreed on this, although there was still an air of doubt. Regardless, they went back into the office and told Kirby they believed him.

"I knew I could count on you guys," he said lovingly.

"There's still a problem, though," Meta Knight announced.

"What?" asked Kirby.

"Well, even if we believe you, if this tape ends up reaching the public, they'll have a hard time with it."

"Why does the public have to see it?" Bandee asked.

"Wasn't our whole purpose to show it wasn't Chef Kawasaki's fault? If we don't tell anyone then what's the point of doing this?"

Nobody had an answer.

"Actually," he continued, "I'm not even convinced that releasing any information would help. The fact that someone could sneak in unnoticed so easily doesn't look very good for Chef Kawasaki. I don't mean to offend you," he said to Kawasaki, "but unfortunately it's the truth."

"Well, what do we do, then?" Kawasaki asked.

Meta Knight took a few seconds to think. "We have two options," he said finally. "Either we release the tape, or some pictures from the tape, and hope that, firstly, they believe it's not Kirby, and secondly that someone may have some information that can help. The other course of action is to stay quiet, say nothing, and hope that the facts emerge from the investigation."

"Who's in charge of the investigation anyway?" Bandee asked.

"Me, I am!" the king said.

"Really?" Bandee was a bit surprised. "What about the sheriff's office?"

"The sheriff reports to _me_!" the king proclaimed.‑

 _If I'd taken over back then, there'd be a clear constitution_ , Meta Knight thought to himself. "Dedede," he said aloud, "I know they report to you, but I believe _they're_ in charge of finding out what happened."

"Oh. Well, I still get to decide if I agree with what they find!"

"Isn't that the judges' job?" Bandee asked.

"I don't know, Waddle Dee. You don't either, so don't start with me."

"From what I understand," Meta Knight said, "and it seems no one else knows any different, the sheriff will handle the investigation and hand his findings to a judge who determines if there will be a trial."

"Since when?" King Dedede demanded.

"I believe that's what happened the last time there was a trial. If I recall it was in a history of Dream Land I read. I can go get it—"

"No, I believe you," the king conceded. A trial hadn't been held in Dream Land in hundreds of years: it was generally a peaceful place, and since Kirby arrived, he simply handled disturbances—or caused them.

"Okay," Bandee said, "I think I have an idea. If the sheriff is in charge of the case, then we show the sheriff the tape, but don't release it to everyone. Then the sheriff can announce they have a lead without putting Kirby at as much risk."

"The sheriff may still suspect Kirby," Meta Knight pointed out. "Still, the sheriff will probably ask to see any CCTV tapes when they start the investigation. I think you might have the best plan, Bandee."

They blushed a bit. Working for the king, they weren't used to being congratulated or thanked very often.

"So, Chef Kawasaki, tomorrow, bring the tape to the sheriff and explain what happened. Make sure to tell them not to release it to the public." Meta Knight patted Kawasaki's shoulder the way you do before sending someone off to a task, and soon everyone was off home.

  


\---

  


The following day, Chef Kawasaki did as he said and brought the tape to the sheriff's office. "Please, though," he said as he handed it to the clerk, "don't put out anything from the tape. Just announce that you have it."

"We can't promise anything," the clerk said. "We thank you for your eager cooperation, but we can't play around with evidence just because you worked with us, especially since you're still an obvious suspect."

"I'm not saying to pretend it's not him, I just mean to not show the public."

"I understand sir, but we have the footage"—the clerk held up the disk with the tape on it to emphasize their point—"and we have the right to do what we will with it."

"I see," Chef Kawasaki said resignedly. "Well, have a nice day."

"Same to you," the clerk said as Kawasaki walked away.

  


\---

  


Up in the mirror world, the same short yellow being as before was preparing the day's brunch offerings, pancakes and bacon. He left the kitchen for a moment to survey the restaurant's dining room—the Batamon was the only customer. The man sighed to himself and went back to cooking.

  


\---

  


Meanwhile, Kirby and Bandee decided to pay a visit to Coo and Rick. They lived in the same tree; Coo had a little house built on the sturdiest branch, and Rick had made a small underground apartment by digging through a between some of the tree's large roots.

When they arrived, Rick was carrying nuts from somewhere back towards his home.

"Hi, Rick!" Kirby called out to him.

"Oh, hi Kirby! Hi Bandana Dee!"

The two ran to catch up to Rick.

"How have you been?" Kirby asked.

"Busy, to be honest. Nago and Pitch are moving in with us. I've been clearing some room for Nago down here, and Coo's been expanding the treehouse."

"Oh, sounds fun!" Kirby said.

"It's exciting," said Rick, "but it's a lot of work, to be honest. Nago is pretty much settled in, though, thankfully. He's inside if you want to come see."

Kirby and Bandee agreed to visit the den. It had been renovated and looked much more spacious.

"I like what you've done with the place," Kirby said.

"Very cozy," added Bandee.

"Oh, hello!" Nago said when he saw the two visitors.

"Nago! How're you doing?" Kirby asked.

"Pretty well. I'm glad Rick and Coo are letting Pitch and me move in. The cardboard box I'd been living in was pretty uncomfortable in bad weather."

"I didn't know you lived in a box!" Kirby exclaimed.

"I'm a cat," Nago said, "it was no big deal. An uncle of mine lived in a dumpster for a few years."

"That sounds horrible!" Bandee said.

"We cats are quite resilient," Nago said a tad pridefully.

Rick invited Kirby and Bandee to take a seat on one of their two home-made couches, an offer they gracefully accepted.

"Have you heard the news about Chef Kawasaki?" Bandee asked the two.  
"About the Waddle Doo?" Nago asked.

"Yeah."

"Of course," he answered. "Sad story."

"What do you think happened?" Rick posed to everyone.

"Well, that's partly why we came," said Bandee. "We've been trying to help Kawasaki figure it out, but we sort of hit a wall."

"What do you mean?" asked Nago.

"Well, we and His Highness and Meta Knight watched the CCTV tape with Chef Kawasaki, and we saw something strange."

"As in...?"

"A weird...thing entered the kitchen."

"Sounds promising," Rick chimed in.

"Well, it is," Bandee continued nervously, "but the, uh, creature was hard to identify."

"What do you mean?" Nago inquired.

"It, uh, looked kind of like Kirby. But it was a _tiny_ bit different. Enough that we could see it after he pointed it out, but if he hadn't been with us I think we'd all have thought Kirby was a murderer."

Nago and Rick seemed somewhat shocked.

"When you say it looked different, how?"

Kirby, who had been struggling to stay quiet, burst out, "It was creepy-looking! It had these little beady wide-apart eyes, and it wasn't as round as me!"

"I think," Nago said, "I remember Coo mentioning he'd seen something that looked like that."

"Really? Where?" Kirby asked excitedly.

"It was during that time the big eyeball thing had possessed King Dedede. I think he even said he was with you when he first saw it, but it was in the clouds so you didn't notice."

Kirby was clearly glad to have a lead, and he didn't have the words to express it.

"Where _is_ Coo?" Bandee asked while Kirby danced and gestured excitedly.

"Getting some materials for the house expansion, I think," Rick said. "He should be back soon."

The four of them sat down and played Go Fish while they waited for Coo to return.


End file.
